Blushing Shades of Red
by IslandVampirelizgurl
Summary: I was a bit sad because in most fanfictions, Mike gets none of the action and absolutely no shot at beautiful, doe-eyed Bella.  This is his shot, I hope he doesn't eff it up. Rated M for language, humor, situations, and some citrus coming up!
1. Lucky, Lucky? Not So Much

**Dedicated to my lovely friend Steph, because she is one of my most favorite people in the whole world.**

**This is my first legitimate fanfiction, so please tell me where I can improve and such. Expect some citrusy treats later. )**

**Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just like playing with the characters. **

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**(Mike's PoV)**

I am a lucky, lucky man. While walking out of school, I caught an angel falling from heaven! Okay, perhaps I am under-exaggerating. I caught a chestnut-haired, brown doe-eyed goddess before she fell down the stairs to the entrance of Forks High-School. This goddess just happened to be Isabella Swan, the new girl in the tiny town of Forks, Washington.

Anyway, I caught her small and delicate frame in my arms and finished the brisk walk down the last two steps of the school entrance. I lightly placed her on her feet, and, like the gentleman I was raised to be, I held out my hand to this blushing beauty and coolly said, "Hey Babe. My name is Mike Newton. You okay?"

This nonchalant gesture, however, made her blush an even more beautiful rose color, and she replied in a clear, bell-like voice.

"Oh! Thank you so much! I'm Bella Swan," she shook my hand, "and I really am a clutz! I am so sorry for falling on you! And I'll be fine, now, as long as I don't trip again!" Bella paused for a second and blushed even redder. "Oh Shit!" I cocked an eyebrow at her unexpected swearing, "Looks like I am rambling again, so thanks, again, and I'll be leaving. Ciao!"

Impulsively, I grabbed her hand, "Hey, wait Bella! You want to go to coffee or something with me sometime? I promise you there won't be any stairs involved." I chuckled when she blushed yet again. Gosh, this chick gets embarrassed easily.

"Umm… That's sounds, uh, cool. Call me."

I realized that I was still holding her hand. Wow, it was really soft and smooth. Regrettably, I dropped it.  
"Well, can I have your phone number? And do you have text?"

"Sure, 424-3698. And yeah, I have text. What's your number?"

"424-8936. Hey we have the same numbers! That's wicked." Yeah, today wasn't my brightest.

She gave me a funny look, "Yeah, wicked. Well, I gotta go. Nice meeting you, and thanks for saving me!"

Soon as she finished blurting that out, she turned on her heel and strode quickly to her car, tripping a couple times. However, I couldn't compose myself enough to say "Adios", and I also realized that I was still holding my hand out… I lowered my arm. And by then she was halfway across the parking lot. My gaze followed her as she got into an old, rusty red truck. Bella gave me a quick glance, and I waved to her. She smiled, and it was absolutely beautiful.

I was then hit in the face by a basketball coming from none other than Eric Yorkie.

I turned around to face the skinny, greasy-haired geek and he was laughing his ass off. Of course, I was fucking pissed. And when Mike Newton is mad… Oh, you fucking know it.

"You stupid fucking son of a bitch!" I yelled. Immediately, he was on the defensive, his face flushing to an unattractive red color. However, both of us knew he was no match for my 6'1" finely toned body. Thank you basketball team. But Yorkie decided to play the dumbfuck anyways, and holler out.

"Hey, at least I wasn't the moron staring at that _fine_ piece of ass your neva' gonna get!"

Wrong. Move.

I didn't even think before I threw a punch that knocked out a tooth or three. Before I could jump on him and do anymore damage to Eric's already ugly-ass face, Tyler Crowley, my best friend since 1st grade (and about the size of a bear), stepped in and held me back. Being about the only person that could hold me down, I allowed him to lead me away from the asshole crying on the ground before Crowley beat _me _up for trying to get back at Yorkie again.

Finally, Crowley released me and I turned around to gather my cool. I then realized that there was a warm, red, sticky liquid running down my face and dripping to the ground. My shirt was ruined and that that son of a bitch fucking broke my nose! Again! Now it was probably even more crooked… God damnit.

As I bitched over my nose to Crowley (whom was trying to help pansy Eric off the ground), I tried to reset it myself, which was extremely hard to do without a mirror. However, to my joy, I found my nose to be completely straight, and it didn't need to be reset! Ha! My luck was good today! (Eric's however, not so good.) But at least my crooked nose had become one less thing for the guys to ridicule me about.

While pondering these facts, I had turned again and started walking to the bathroom. Upon entering the school, our English teacher, Ms. Jones, saw me and turned as white as a sheet of paper, and rushed into the teacher's lounge next to her.

"Well, teach you for giving us a 5 page minimum essay due Monday." I grumbled, spotting the men's restroom and wandering in. Once I was there, I grabbed a shitload of paper towels, peeled off my blood-stained shirt, and peered at the ghost-white and bloody-red image staring back at me in the mirror. My bright blue eyes and light blonde hair stood out greatly as I began the slow process of removing the blood from my face. Finally, after a 15 minute process of lightly dabbing my face and such, I had completed my task and I looked at my newly reset nose.

Ever since 3rd grade, my nose had been weirdly crooked because I had gotten hit right on the bridge of it with a baseball. No, not a softball. It had to be a baseball. I tenderly touched the sides of my nose with my large hands and long fingers.

"Owww!" I winced when I tried to scrunch my face even a little. Already, my nose had started bruising and looking a dark, gloomy shade of blue and purple. I decided that it was the best I could do, so I threw my shirt in the trash and walked out of the men's bathroom to go see what other damage I may have caused to Yorkie's stupid face.

By now, Tyler had helped the shmuck get to the nurse and had come back to bitch me out. He was sitting on the curb at the scene of the crime with a very frustrated expression.

"What the fuck is your problem man! Yah know you can't get fucking suspended again! It goes on your fucking record, and because yah want to go to a fucking good-ass college, yah need to step up your act! I can't be fucking here for yah every fucking time yah fuck up!"

Shocked at this outburst, I back up a little, put my hands up, and say, "Jeez man, say fuck a lot?" He glowered at me. "Are you okay, man?" He had never freaked out on me like this.

"Not really, Mike. I found out I can't go to college today. My parents can't pay for it, and they completely wiped out my savings account. I have no money." He put his head in his hands.

That was the last thing I expected. The Crowley's always seemed so nice. "Tyler, dude, I am so sorry. If you need a place to crash, just give me a call. What are you gonna do now?"

Tyler looked up at me, "I guess I'll be getting a job. You still have an opening at your parent's store."

"Yes, we do. Show up tomorrow afternoon to fill out an application."

"Okay, Mike. Thanks so much."

I patted him on the shoulder and turned to look at the parking lot, searching for my car. However, I became a bit distracted. Staring at the school parking lot, I noticed that Bella's red truck was still there. 'That's weird' I thought, because usually, by this time, every student from Forks High-School would have driven out of here like flying monkeys on crack, trying to get away from this hell-hole.

I jogged to Bella's car, figuring that she was doing homework, or was looking for something. As soon as I got within a distance enough to see through her windshield, I noticed that she had passed out over the wheel. Now sprinting, I made it to her truck, and knocked on the door. No reply.

"Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit." I said in a frenzy as I yanked open her door and tried to get her out of the car. I tried to get her awake, and she still didn't respond. I yelled to Crowley, who had seen me start sprinting and was currently on his feet running towards Bella and I.

"Call 9-1-1!" I yelled, and gathered her in my arms.

**(Bella's PoV)**

Bright, white, cold light. It's hurting my eyes… I want to go back into darkness, the nice and soothing warm darkness. I want to- Hey! What is in my hand? "Mmmmm…" I moaned. It's warm and soft and big has a nice pressure. I like it.

That's when I, Bella Swan, decided to open my chocolate brown eyes to face the world. The bright lights stung, but as my pupils adjusted I took in my surroundings and a sterile bleach smell. I realized I was in a hospital room. A clock on the wall across from my uncomfortable bed told me it was 1:32AM, and I slowly turned my now-throbbing head towards the light and warm pressure in my right hand. I gazed up to see a tall, muscular, blonde-haired hunk of man, with no shirt ta' boot, sleeping in a chair next to me. As I peeled my eyes away from his bronze, 8 pack abs, I was able to see who this man is.

It was Mike Newton! The gorgeous hotty who caught me before I plundered to my humiliation down the stairs at the school today. Not even my third day of living in Forks, and on my first day of school, I end up in the hospital. Yeah, I am that smooth. Not.

I swear, I should come with a bright yellow and red caution label. I can just see it now. 'I AM BELLA SWAN. MAY CAUSE BRAIN DAMAGE TO SELF OR OTHERS. EXTREME CAUTION. MAY RESULT IN DEATH.'

Yep, that's_ perfect._

Well, if everyone came with labels, then sleeping hotty in the chair next to me should wear a 'I'm Sex On Legs Gorgeous!'… Or no shirt at all is preferable. I'd be fine with that, too. Hell, have him lose _all_ his clothes, because that'll make some _damn_ nice eye-candy… What I wouldn't give to strip off those clothes myself. I'd trace those beautiful and firm abs with my fingers, going all the way down to his bountiful d-.

WAIT! What am I even thinking? Or doing? The mind-rambling, the guy sleeping soundly and holding my hand… Jeez, even asleep, this guy has the ability to scatter my thoughts. I can't even form a non-stupid sounding sentence when he's awake. Not to mention, I was thinking filthy thoughts while in a hospital, wearing a scanty and revealing hospital gown, about the sleeping guy (who's gorgeous and muscular and beau- STOP IT! Grrrrrr….) who was sitting next to me. This all became way too much for my small brain to absorb. I began hyperventilating (which may not just be from me being overwhelmed… Maybe I had forgotten to breathe while ogling at Mike's abs) and then my head began to throb even more.

Suddenly, Mike Newton was awake, firmly gripping my shoulders, and trying to hold me steady. He looked deeply into my eyes and, in all seriousness, said, "Bella! Bella, it's okay. Your alright, just calm down. You are with me, it's safe."

This guy was magic. I stopped freaking out and took some labored breaths as he stared at me with eyes full of concern. Then I tried to calmly ask, "What happened to me?"

However it came out like, "Wha-what happened t-t-to me?" Failure of epic proportions, on my part.

"You passed out in your truck and received a mild concussion when your head hit the steering wheel." He replied, meawhile taking his hands off my shoulders, "but I, nor any of the doctors, know what made you pass out like that. Care to enlighten me, Bella?"

Yum… The sound of my name rolling off his tongue was music to my ears. Rather look speechless after listening to him speak, I replied none-too brilliantly.

"I know." I said meekly, blushing a deep red, "When I saw you get hit in the face with that basketball… All that blood… It- it made me feel all light headed and—and I must have fainted…"

"Well, Bella, looks like we have to stay away from red liquids from now on." Mike said jokingly, trying to cover my embarrassment for me. Wasn't that sweet… But why was he staying here with me? Not that I objected to this, but I mean, the hospital must not be the greatest place to spend the night. And I was still wearing this gaudy hospital gown.

"Ummmm… Mike?" I said, enjoying the way his named rolled off _my _tongue, "Are there any clothes here that I can change into?" I asked.

"Mhm, I believe your clothes are in the dresser here," he said, patting the top of the bed-side table, "but I suggest waiting until the doctor checks in and dismisses you."

Just then, I remembered Charlie, my dad, must be worried to death. I had just moved in to spend some dear old quality time with him, and because he ran the police station in Forks, he probably had the whole squad out looking for my right now. I was going to get in so, so much trouble. Urgently, I turned to my dear, bed-sitting companion.

"Mike!" I said urgently, "Did you ever tell my dad about this?"

"All taken care of." He responded calmly. "He had to go home and get some sleep. I think Charlie said it was because he got the 4:30 morning patrol shift or something. Otherwise, he wouldn't have left you."

"Oh, okay." I muttered, glad that the police squad wasn't scouring the woods and city dumpsters for my remains. "Sooo…" I said, at a total loss for words. Then, I looked up at his face and noticed the bruising around his nose. I inclined my head and leaned in, gazing into his eyes and my lips made it's way to the very tip.

There, I laid the lightest kiss, and I watched as he closed his eyes, almost as if he were savoring this very moment.

"Hi, I am Dr. Carlisle Cullen."

Suddenly, the moment was completely lost. Looks like the doctor had made it in…

"Am I interrupting?" Dr. Cullen said, noticing the close proximity of both Mike's and my lips. The consequential glaring may have also hinted that he had, too.

At a moment as awkward as any, we both moved back to our original respective places, Mike looking fairly relaxed, and me trying to gather my very scrambled thoughts.

"No, Sir. It's fine." Mike told the doctor.

Then, I really noticed the doctor. For a man of about 30, he was extremely attractive. He had classic good looks, was very pale, and he had a halo of thick, dark blonde hair on his head. His golden eyes sparkled, and he seemed like a trustworthy person whom someone could depend on. I suppose that is why he's a doctor.

As I was gaping at him like he was some kind of specimen under a microscope, he gave me an embarrassed smile and I believe that Mike actually did a facepalm… Wow, I must be on a stupidity roll today.

...Three minutes pass...

"Uhm… Ms. Swan?" he said, shrugging off my awkwardness, "You have a minor concussion, but now that you seem to be in a stable condition, and you look much better now than when you came in, I'd say that you are certainly free to go. However, I expect you to be careful for the next two weeks, don't jump around, drink a lot of fluids, rest, and if anything starts to bother you, call me immediately. Okay?"

I gave him a vague 'Uh-huh' and he abruptly left.

Mike leaned forward again, smirking, "So you think he's pretty, right?"

I really blushed, and glared at him, obviously confirming his question. He laughed and sat back, a mischievous smile on his face. Again, were the only two people in my hospital room… And the sexual tension was through the roof.

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**Author's Note: So how was that people? Shall I continue Mike's shot at Bella? **

**REVIEW! PLEASE!**


	2. All This Immodest Blushing, Bella

**Wow guys! Thanks so much for the reviews and for adding me to your alerts and favorites lists! I really appreciate it! However, I would appreciate it if ALL of you reviewed, so I would have more motivation. (Hint, hint: IT WOULD MAKE ME WRITE FASTER!) And I super-duper-duper appreciate it! Plus, I shall personally reply to all of you with a rain shower of thank-you's.**

**Dedicated to my lovely friend Steph, and my favorite Fanfiction author, Ms. Jessica Cullen, whom for I fixed Mike so that he wouldn't make her cringe as badly as Jacob. Don't worry, Edward will show up eventually. I have plans for him... (*Insert Evil Laugh Here*)**

**I am also aware that the 'Point of Views' switch around a lot at the beginning of this chapter. They all have a reason for it! (And for everything else!) And yes, the situations are ridiculous. But that's what you get when you mix Mike and Bella at a hospital at 3 in the morning.**

**So on with the show.**

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**(Bella's PoV)**

Well, this was certainly awkward. Not knowing if Mike felt the same way, or if it was both of us or if it was just me being a weirdo.

Then came yet another dilemma. I really freaking had to pee.

Well, this was certainly embarrassing _and _awkward. I had two options: 1) Somehow ask or find my own way to a bathroom around here, even though my head has its own pulse, or 2) Wait for Mike to leave… And somehow, I figured that he wouldn't do that unless I got lucky, and by the way today went, I am fairly certain that my luck level is bottoming out at 'Total Crap.'

I started shifting around, looking uncomfortable and hating Mother Nature for two things. I am pretty sure Mike noticed this and he looked a bit concerned. In fact, I am pretty sure he was shifting around a lot, too. And I guess he looked pretty uncomfortable…

**(Mike's PoV)**

Holy fuck I had to pee. I had been waiting for about an hour now to make a break for it, but I really didn't feel like looking like 'a man more swayed by nature' (in this case) in front of Bella. Oh shit, what was I going to do? Grrrr…. I really have to go…

I looked at the door, I glanced at Bella. Back to the door, back to Bella. "Oh, fuck it." I muttered under my breath. I figured that I would look better to her in any case as long as I didn't piss my pants.

"Umm… Bella? I'm going to go get you something to eat. You must be hungry, considering the last time you ate was at the school lunch." I said as I got up from the hospital chair. I grabbed my wallet that I had placed on the bed-side table and booked it out of there without another word and ran into the closest bathroom.

**(Bella's PoV)**

THANK YOU GOD! As soon as Mike left the room to go get me a snack, I got up carefully, gathered my gaudy hospital robe around me, and slowly made my way to the nearest bathroom, which happen to be a single stall one for the hospital staff. Since the door was closed, I was frustrated. I leaned my forehead against the nice cool door, hoping it would ease the pain of my headache and then-

BAAAMMM!

I fell face forward through the doorway. Right before I hit the floor, a pair of strong, tan arms caught me. And a voice I was really getting to know well said, "Bella! Bella? Are you alright? You seem to be stalking m-." Suddenly, I felt a fabric cover my behind… Oh no, my robe had fallen open when I fell. I groaned. This just wasn't my day. Meanwhile, Mike helped me back up on my feet, and because I gave up on being modest in front of this guy, whom had seen more of me today than anyone else in my life, I just shoved him out of the bathroom and closed the door in his face.

After I took care of business, I realized I felt really bad for shoving Mike out of the way so… Hulk-like. I sighed and hobbled back to my hospital room. Anxiously waiting for a reaction such as 'You are a stupid bitch'; I was feeling guilty for already ruining my relationship with such a hot guy.

However, to my luck, I walked back into the room, full blush on my face to see him laughing. He was actually laughing! And it wasn't just one of those 'I'm giggling to myself', it was a 'holy fuck I am gonna bust a gut rolling on the floor laughing'! That ass!

Suddenly all guilt feelings flew out the window. Completely assuming that all this bust-gut laughing was aimed towards me, I stomped to my bed, grumpy over how clumsy and ungraceful I was, and how much my fucking head was pounding. I sat down with an air of self-disgust. Mike looked up at me and caught on to my somber mood. He had enough sense to straighten himself out and sit back on his perch to my right.

Awkward silence occurs.

Mike was looking at me, I was looking at my hands, and I glancing his way every couple of seconds. I noticed he still wasn't wearing a shirt-*mouth drools*

Awkward silence continues.

Awkward silence grows tense…

Awkward silence gets even tenser and even more awkward...

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Completely shocked I looked over to Mike, and, while still laughing he says, "Fat penguin. Just broke the ice."

Now, I was totally baffled, like what the fuck? Anyways, I accepted it and started laughing with him.

You know when you are talking with your friends at late night sleepovers and someone says something really stupid, yet everyone laughs so hard they cry over it? Yes, this was one of those times. However, it unfortunately wasn't a sleepover.

After full out laughing for 5 minutes, and many strange and questioning stares from the nurses, we finally calmed down enough to stop having the hospital faculty stare at us like we were insane. (Which _is_ a mild probability…)

After all the post-laugh giggling stopped, Mike spoke up.

"So… Bella. Do you want to go get some coffee or something after we check you out?"

"Sure, Mike. That's sounds good, but maybe with about 12 aspirins. This migraine is really kicking my ass. And I really need to get dressed."

"Yeah, and I really need to find a shirt."

I resisted the urge to yell NO at his face. "Ummm… Yeah," I said a bit sadly. It was a very _fiiine_ view after all. "Well, I need to get dressed." Keywords for: Get out.

"Okay, Bella, I'll see you in about 5 minutes. I'll also find you some Advil."

"M'kay, Adios."

As soon as Mike left and shut the door behind him, I had a chance to relish the silence that was like ice to my throbbing head. I looked in a mirror on the wall in my room and I tried to tame the tangled mess of long brown hair with my fingers, but eventually gave up. After a couple minutes of doing that, I gladly discarded the robe of fashion nightmares and opened up the drawer where Mike said my clothes would be. I threw on my bikini-cut midnight blue panties and matching bra (that has unicorns on it!) (What? It's my favorite article of clothing. I like unicorns.) I also found my low-rise jeans and I threw those on. However, as I looked around, I just couldn't find my shirt.

I looked in the top drawer, and all it held was a beaten-up looking bible. "Huh." I said, looking in the bottom drawer to see if my shirt had happened to magically appear or something. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.

I stood up and looked around at all the visible surfaces. Still, nothing caught my eye.

God, damn it all to hell. This was not an ideal situation. I bent over to look under the hospital bed just as Mike opened the door and walked in, getting quite the eyeful.

**(Mike's PoV)**

Right after shutting the door to Bella's room, I walked to the nurse's station to ask one of the ladies for a shirt. Approaching the nicest and youngest looking one with short and curly blonde hair, I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned. Her hazel, almond-shaped eyes widened as she got the view of looking at my totally ripped chest, but she quickly switched back into professional mode.

"Yes, sir, how may I help you?" She asked in a cool façade.

Feeling a bit smug that I had received that particular reaction, I replied, "Yes, M'am. Do you happen to have a spare shirt lying around somewhere that I could acquire? There was a mishap that occurred earlier, forcing me to discard it into a trash receptacle before accompanying my friend, Bella, to the emergency room." Yes, now I was aware I was showing off.

See, I was really smart, and a real geek before I realized that taped, large, nerd glasses and mathematics and chess team awards were not what the ladies went for. I had changed my whole persona around, though I still appreciated the wide span of vocabulary that would always shock people every once in a while. I liked to show off occasionally. I did well in school, and I maintained being Captain of the Forks High School Basketball Team. Life was good, and since I met Bella earlier, life got even better.

Abruptly, the nurse turned, said a light, "Follow me, please, sir." And I let her lead me down the hallway and to the faculty lounge on the left. She used her ID on the sensor system to open the door, and I followed her in.

The room had stainless steel appliances and a long white table, with scattered plastic chairs. On the ceiling, a fan was spinning on high. It was pretty unneeded considering it was already pretty cold in the room. Along the walls were a bunch of white-painted cabinets, all neatly labeled. The nurse headed straight for the cabinet labeled 'Tee-Shirts' and pulled out a large basic blue tee for me. I threw it on while she patiently waited and we walked out. I said a quick, "Thank you very much for your help, good-bye." And she walked away, leaving me to walk back to Bella's room by myself.

I made my way slowly, figuring that, by now, Bella should be all clothed and ready to go. I got to her room, quickly knocked and opened to door. I strode right in and shut said door behind me, not expecting to see, well, anything.

Instead, I received the lovely view of her plump heart-shaped ass bending over. Abruptly, she stood, giving me the pleasure of viewing a flat stomach accompanied by a pair of the most luscious breasts I had ever seen in my life. My pants began to be very cramped. It apparently was quite obvious that I was gaping at her chest.

Bella blushed red all over and tears welled up in her eyes as she took a bed-sheet and immodestly trying to cover herself. As much as I regretted, I turned around to face the wall of the room, trying to give her some privacy.

"Man, I am really sorry Bella. I figured to would have changed by now." I said, trying to sound apologetic.

"Well, maybe you should knock next time!" She snapped.

"I did knock!" I yelled, facing the wall still.

"Well, then I didn't hear it." Bella sobbed, her voice cracking.

Having had enough of this wall talking, I turned around to walk to her bed. Wiping the tears away from her cheeks, I told her "Bella, I am really sorry. Here, take my shirt."

I took my shirt off in one graceful sweep and I handed it to her.

Through her tears, she giggled a bit, and cried some more. Woman, I just couldn't understand them.

"Bella, I'm going to turn around so you can put the shirt on, okay?" And, truthful to my word, I turned around. I looked down at the floor and realized what she had giggled about. My jeans were slightly tented. I turned a bit red myself, and thought of the worst things I could until my dick went back into no boner state. While I was doing this, I heard rustling around and I assumed that she was putting on my shirt and throwing the sheet back on the bed.

"Mike, I'm decent now." Bella said in a small voice.

I turned and saw that the blue shirt was like a tent on her, and I realized that I had to go find miss curly-haired blonde nurse again so I could ask for another shirt. I sighed.

Bella gave me a questioning look. I just grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the room, but first glancing around to see if we were leaving anything. Nope.

I took her to the nurse's station, and flagged down the same nurse. She rolled her eyes in annoyance at my obvious shirtless appearance, and said in a rather snippy voice, "I suppose you want another shirt." Bella blushed again.

"Yeah, that would be really nice." I said with coldness in my voice. "Some aspirin for Bella, here, would be much appreciated also." The charm was off. If she was going to be a bitch, then I wasn't going to be oh-so-sweet-guy myself. The nurse sighed and led us to the lounge, with the unnecessary fan still on. She opened up a different cabinet, handed Bella a small blue tee and walked out of the room to let us change alone.

Waiting for her to remove her shirt, she hesitates and blushes a deep red again. Finally, I was confused about all this blushing. So I asked her.

"Bella, why are you so embarrassed all the time?" I was really curious.

Avoiding my eyes, she looked at the ground. "Well, no-one has ever seen this much of me before."

Oh.

Well I hadn't expected that answer. I knew my time was running out for me to say something that would make things less awkward, so I stuck to the truth.

"Bella, you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. You are beautiful inside and out. Now I am going to look at a wall again while you change. Then we can go get some coffee at a Starbucks or something."

Bella gave me a big smile and I turned around to wait for my shirt, reaching my arms out behind me so I could grab it when she was done. After about 30 seconds, everything went dark as I realized that Bella had put the shirt on the top of my head.

"Thanks…" I mumbled, and turned around to see her giggling slightly. "Oh, you think that's funny?" She giggled even more. Laughing myself, I flung it back at her. However, I purposely missed. I missed way too far and it hit the ceiling fan. This is what happens at 3 in the morning in a hospital.

"Oh, shit!" we both said in unison.

My blue tee-shirt spun around a couple times and flung on top of the tall stainless steel fridge. We both looked at each other and laughed as I sauntered over to the fridge. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach my shirt.

"Fuuuuuuck….."

"What?" Bella asked.

"My damn shirt is stuck on top and I can't get it." I bitched.

"Oh! Hey, how about you lift me up and I can reach it on top."

I beckoned to Bella to walk over to me. "Good idea."

As soon as she got over to me, I threw her up on to my shoulders with no warning. She clung to me like a cat on a tree.

"Okay, spider monkey, you can get my shirt now."

Shakily, Bella reached up to retrieve my shirt. Holding onto her warm thighs, she put one of her hands on my shoulder and got my shirt for me. She shook it out and let go of my shoulder, trusting me to keep her balanced. She put the shirt over my head and tightened her legs around me as I helped her get my arms through the right holes.

Once my shirt was one, I delicately put her down in front of me, my arms still around her. She smiled at me and we leaned in for a kiss, inclining our heads and moving in slowly.

We heard someone clear their throat. "Excuse me. Am I interrupting something?" We looked at the door to see the nurse impatiently waiting, tapping her foot with her arms crossed.

I am pretty sure our mutual glares said that she was. She rolled her eyes and motioned for us to get out of the lounge. Once outside, she handed Bella a paper cup of water and 2 Advils. Bella swallowed the pain-killers and we headed to the reception desk after a brief five minutes, we were on our way out the front doors to my car.

I held the front passenger door open for her and shut it when she was settled. I pulled my keys out of my jean's pocket and I jogged around to the driver's seat. Once I had gotten in and closed the door, I put the keys in the ignition, put the car in drive, and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

"So… What's your favorite kind of coffee, Bella?"

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**Don't you all hate me right now for screwing up their kiss once again? Tell me about it. No, LITERALLY tell me about it.**

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	3. Coffee Time

**Okay guys, I know that this one is really short. I planned on writing more, but it just felt... Right to end it where I did. I really appreciate all of the reviews that you guys give me, and all of the author/story alerts and favorites. I have all of the email notifications/reviews saved in a special email folder.**

**I am really sorry that I haven't updated for such a long time. School is such a huge pain in the butt when you have six hours of homework every day. Including weekends. I am exhausted, but just for you guys, I am updating. Again, I apologize for the delay!**

**I'll thank all reviewers in the next chapter!**

**Bella's PoV**

*SCREEEEECH*

We pulled into the parking lot at about 60 miles per hour. Clinging to the 'Oh Shit' bar and having a horrified face posture, I knew that never again would I let Mike Newton drive.

That crazy son-of-a-bitch drove like a bat out of hell, skirting along the highways at a constant 95 speed average with ease. Kind of unnerving.

At least I had arrived at Starbucks in what seemed to be one piece. My mind might have been back at a hospital parking space, but you know, my mind really isn't that crucial. It usually counts as 'barely there' when I am around Mike anyways.

Still in a minor state of shock, Mike parked his old silver Volvo in a space in front of the building, got out, shut his door, and ran around to the passenger side to let me out as I peeled my white, strained fingers from the 'Oh Shit' bar and manually closed my gaping mouth with my hand. I checked my clothes to make sure everything was where it should be and I managed to not fall on my ass getting out of Mike's car.

Once I was properly out, he shut the passenger door, grabbed my hand and led me out of the cool night and into the bright café of Starbucks. Mike held open one of the double doors for me, I muttered a polite thank you, and strode right in. There was a really skinny and short girl behind the counter, very petite, with dark hair and a pixy-like hair cut. She had a very slim nose, gold-eyes, and a very pale complexion. On the all, she seemed pixy-like all over. However, the huge blueberry muffins behind her caught my attention more than Pixy-Chick. Mmm… Blueberry muffins. Yummm… My stomach grumbled.

Mike and I walked up to the counter and he asked me what I wanted. I told the expectant pixy-woman that I wanted a Café Mocha Cappuccino Grande with whipped cream, and Mike ordered a Café Americano Grande with light cream. He also ordered two blueberry muffins. I don't know how he knew; it might have been the look of pure longing in my eyes or something… Or he had heard my stomach making an attempt to talk. Huh. Oh, well…

Since we were the only ones there, Pixy-Girl told us that she would bring our coffee and muffins out for us when our drinks were ready, so we occupied a somewhat secluded booth against a wall in the back of the coffee shop. Sitting across from each other, Mike put his elbows on the table, leaned forward, and asked, "Your head feeling any better?"

"Yeah, it's okay now that I took the pain killers. I swear, my head must have hit the steering wheel really hard because that migraine was a bitch."

"That's good."

Before we could say any more, Pixy-chick, whose real name was actually Alice (according to her name tag) bounded over and delivered our coffees and muffins. Mmm... Muffins… I practically snatched mine out of Alice's hand before she put it down on the table, and took a big chomp right out of it. Both my stomach and I literally moaned in muffin-y satisfaction. It was _so good._

Mike said thanks to Alice and took one look at me and laughed. I mock glared at him and continued to devour my delicious muffin in enthusiasm. Yum… Mike continued to laugh and then picked up his muffin and made NOM NOM NOM sounds when he took the first bite. Of course, he made me laugh and I proceeded to choke on the muffin I was chewing on. Oh, such a graceful night for me this was.

By this point, I figured that there was nothing I could do to scare Mike off. He seemed to be a rock. A tall, hunky, buff, handsome, gorgeous rock. A gentle, hot, kind, smart, pretty, sexy, athletic-

"Bella! BELLA! Bella? Are you okay? Bella! Are we gonna have to make another hospital run?"

Apparently I was choking so badly that I had become light-headed and day-dreamy a little. Ah, the daily occurrences in the life of Bella Swan.

I grabbed my coffee and took a sip to clear my throat. Besides the fact that it was extremely hot and three-quarters of my taste buds had just been burned off, the liquid had served its purpose and I wasn't choking anymore. I gave Mike a weak smile. Then, I swear to God, he reclined in his seat a little and did a facepalm. Huh, I tend to earn a lot of those…

"You okay now?"

"Yeah, Mike, thanks. Sorry I am such a pain in the ass."

Mike smirked. "Aw, Bella, you're not a pain in the ass, you're just gracefully and socially challenged. But it does give me chance to save you all the time. Make me feel more macho." He wiggled his eyebrows.

I almost spit out the coffee that I was drinking.

"Macho? More like a bigger _ego_." I gave him a sarcastic eye-roll.

He mockingly looked hurt. "Well, then…"

I snorted into my coffee.

"So, how are you liking Forks, Bella. Besides your countless number of suicide attempts already. Doesn't that tell you a lot about this little town?" asked Mike, laughing a little.

I laughed, too. "It's okay." I responded, "A little too wet and cold for what I am used to, but it seems tolerable. I am here to spend some time with Charl- my dad." I took another sip of my coffee.

"Why do you call him Charlie?"

I looked down at the table. "I guess it's because I just haven't had him in my life for such a long time. When my parents got a divorce, my mom, Renè, got full custody. We moved to Arizona, and I only saw Charlie in the summer, but after a while we stopped doing that. And with my mom, it always seems like I am the more responsible one, and since she got remarried, I felt like was kinda holding her back. So I figured that it would be good for all of us if I spent some good ole' quality time with my dad."

Throughout this whole schpeal, I continued drinking my coffee in between sentences and Mike watched with patience.

Mike nodded his head and smirked, "So you're going hunting with him, fishing, some real MANLY-MAN stuff."

I shook my head and gave him a pointed stare.

He just winked at me, and I laughed. We both took a sip of our coffee and sat for a few seconds in companionable silence.

Mike glanced at his watch. "I take it that there is no way in hell we are going to school in a couple hours. It's almost four-thirty right now."

I downed the rest of my coffee for good measure.

"Good grief Bella! We've only had this coffee for five minutes, and you have already chugged the whole thing!"

Oh, and did I neglect to mention before that I am a total coffee addict? I love my coffee… Although, it did have its downside. In about two minutes, I was almost positive that I was going to get extremely hyper… And very babbly.

"Oh shit." I said. Out loud. Shit… I started tapping my foot against the floor.

Mike gave me a funny look, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing really…" I started drumming my fingers.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm cool." My leg started bouncing.

"Okay then."

*Thirty seconds of silence pass by.*

"So, Mike, how do you like Forks? Oh, I'm sorry, that was a really dumb question. Haha you have lived here your whole life…. Wait? Have you? I mean, like lived here your whole life? Oh my gosh I am talking really freaking fast!"

"Bella, are you okay?"

"Tee-hee!"

"What the hell was that?"

"Just ignore me and answer the damn question."

Mike looked a bit taken aback, "Well, pushy-pushy."

"Phhh…" I gestured for him to continue.

Mike looked really uncomfortable, "Well, I didn't always live here…"

Why wasn't he just answering my question?

"Where did you live before?"

"In… uhh… Maine."

"Really? That's so cool! How is it in the great Northeast? Lots of snow? Pretty good people out there?"

Mike frowned. "Um, I don't really remember much. I lived there until I was almost nine. Then I moved, uh, here."

"Oh, okay then… Do you remember anything? I mean, nine years is still a pretty long time." Now I was genuinely curious.

"Well, I do remember…" He smiled, "The snow was pretty cool. In the winter, there were always snow men in everyone's yards, and I remember once that I went snowmobiling. That was a pretty cool time."

He grimaced and his smile was replaced by sadness.

I looked at him questioningly, but he just shook his head. I didn't want to push it.

"Well, that's interesting. I have always wanted to go to the Northeast at one point."

Mike took a giant sip of his coffee. "Yeah, the sites are certainly something to see."

Well, Mike, sorry to break it to you, but I would much rather see what's under those clothes…

"Wait, what?"

Oh, my God. Did I just say that out loud?

"Bella? What did you just say?"

Oh. Oh, fuck.

"Hello? Any sign of life in there? What did you just say? It seemed to involve my clothing… Is it coming off?" He smirked maliciously.

I blushed so extremely red, it wasn't funny. My leg began tapping nervously again. Fuck my life.

**Mike's PoV**

Bella's face turned a pretty shade of rose. It took all I could to not think about blood… ah…. Rushing to other… ergh… parts.

"I-I-I-I-I… uh…"She looked down in dejection. "Yes. I did." She looked like she was going to cry.

I leaned forward over the table, and I took two fingers to lift her chin to make her eyes meet mine.

I smirked. "Bella, I would much more prefer for both of our clothes to be off."

She blushed bright red again and I moved back to my respective side of the table. She cleared her throat and fiddled with her sweatshirt while I downed the last couple sips of my coffee. I got up, chucked both of our trash, and walked back over to our secluded booth. I offered her my hand, which she gladly took, and we both walked right out of the Starbucks, me, of course, holding the door open for her and giving a curt nod to our server, Alice (whom for which I left a quite generous tip on the table). I swear she gave me a wink as I walked out.

From there, we somewhat ran to my car.

She pushed herself up against the side and I pressed my body up against hers and I put my palms on either side of her face. I inclined my head and pressed my lips to hers.

**REVIEW PLEASE! IT WILL MAKE ME WRITE SOOOOOO MUCH FASTER! AND PROCRASTINATE ON HOMEWORK SOOOOO MUCH MORE!**


	4. Kiss And Remember

**Author's Note: Wow guys! Thank you so much for all the reviews! Again, I apologize about how much I have been slacking to deliver your daily dose of Mike and Bella, it's been a really crazy year. I'm going to try to get another chapter out before the end of tomorrow. Please, complain about how aweful I am about not updating, tell me about how much I deprive you of Mike and Bella, and complain about how evilly I ended this chapter. ANY REVIEWS ARE SUPER DUPER APPRECIATED! I LOVE YOU GUYS!**

The experience was amazing. She was so soft and warm, and small and delicate. She was beautiful. Our lips sweetly moved against each other; both of us taking our time, neither fighting for dominance. She weaved her fingers through my hair, and I slowly stroked my hands down her back so that they were resting just on top of her hotter-than-fuck ass.

I have no idea how long we were standing there, kissing, but we had to pull away to breathe at one point. Before I pulled away completely, I placed a small, tender kiss on her lips and one on her forehead. I opened the door for her, smiled and said, "Ladies first."

She was completely flushed and replied in a small voice, "Thank you." She delicately got in the car and I personally buckled her in and then gently closed the passenger seat door. I ran around the front of my vehicle and got into the driver's seat. The car was promptly started, and we pulled out of the parking lot.

"Bella, how do we get to your house from here?"

Bella looked a bit lost.

*30 Minutes Later*

We pulled into Bella's driveway. It had taken us a half an hour to find her house, even though it was only a five minute trip. Oh well, the look of shear amusement on Bella's face every time we had gotten _really_ lost had been hilarious.

I might have to tell her later that I had known where we were the whole time…

Hehehe…

I swiftly got out of the car, ran around the back, and opened the passenger door to let Bella out. Truthfully, she sorta stumbled a bit. But I caught her, so it was all good. I flipped her up into my arms, closed the car door, and carried her to the house bridal style.

I climbed the stairs up to her porch and I dropped her down on the doorstep. With her arms around my neck, she stood on the tips of her toes to give me a chaste kiss on the lips.

However, I wasn't feeling very chaste tonight.

I gripped the back of her head with one of my hands and glued her lips to mine. In a frenzy, we sucked and nibbled and licked at each other's lips; our tongue's battling for dominance over the other. The hand that wasn't entwined in Bella's gorgeous chestnut hair was roaming over her body, carefully lingering over the small of her back, then switching to her firm ass, and then slowly reaching its way up to her bountiful breasts.

But before it could reach its final destination, Bella pulled away, removed my hand from her head, and put both of my hands at my sides. I was a bit stunned. She had been responding to my touches; why did she stop all of a sudden? Before Mike could react, Bella reached up and laid a sweet, little kiss on the very tip of Mike's nose and whispered, "Good Night." Then she slipped inside her house, closing the door in his face and leaving him on her front porch alone.

**(Bella's PoV)**

I just couldn't let him get that close to me. I was terrified. From the moment I met him, I knew that I had fallen head-over-heels for this guy, but honestly, I didn't want my heart broken again. I knew that if I let myself get too close, I would just end up getting hurt, and I didn't want that to happen after last time.

The kiss was sweet, and I could feel the lingering and electric touch of his lips on mine. Depressed that I had cut Mike off from continuing the kissing, and knowing that I had probably just ruined any chance I had ever hoped of having with him, I felt a small, stray tear roll down my left cheek and fall upon my chest, right over where my heart is. I locked the door behind me and quietly crept up the stairs, unknowing whether or not Charlie was still home or at the police station.

Once I got into my room, I lightly closed the bedroom door behind me. Then I ran to my bed and collapsed, becoming a complete sobbing wreck.

I would never get the boy of my dreams. Mike was just way too far out of my reach. Completely unattainable.

During my time in Arizona, I thought that I had found the man of my dreams; my soul mate. I had never been so wrong in my life.

All these texts, these messages, all of the "I love you's" we exchanged…. They all meant nothing to him, and the entire world to me.

His name was Edward Cullen. He had sandy bronze hair, medium in length, and the most gorgeous green eyes I had ever seen. He was tall, lean, and muscular, and he had a perfectly white smile that could make any girl's knees go weak. As soon as I initially realized that, I should have broken up with him. His mere gaze made _too_ many girls' knees go weak.

Edward and I had started dating about 2 months into freshman year. We had always had a thing for each other, and we had been pretty good friends before. After all, we had grown up together. The gorgeous, popular jock and the socially awkward, unwanted girl… Perfect couple, right? Well, after dating him for two years, I finally caught him cheating on me with my best friend. That one hurt. I knew my (now) ex-best friend, Victoria, had out-shone me in many ways. Her luscious red hair, flawless complexion, model-like size 4 body… There was absolutely no way that anyone could choose me over her.

Well, after I had caught Edward speed-boating that no-soul, ginger-haired bitch, I decided that I was totally done with men. However, after a month of deciding that I wasn't attracted to women, I finally resigned myself to believe that I would become an old, crippled crone with twenty cats.

As I lay on my bed with tears streaming down my cheeks, I revisited this thought. I really had no chance of redemption with Mike. He would probably get bored with me and run off with some other long-legged, gorgeous blonde. I was a pale, gangly, mousey-haired, socially-awkward girl. He would never ever want me. I needed to stop kidding myself.

I got up from my bed and discarded my clothes. I threw on an oversized, ratty, old tee-shirt and got into my bed. I cried myself to sleep that night.

**(Mike's PoV)**

What the fuck was that? She slammed the goddamned door right in my face! What did I do wrong?

Well, I had thought that the night was going really well (besides the fact that Bella had been in the hospital). We had fun, we laughed, and we had kissed. Up until the point where she left me feeling alone in the dark on her porch, it had been the best night of my life.

I really had fallen for this girl. I have never felt this way before about anyone, and I had dated a fair few amount of girls. I remember dating Jessica Stanley. Ugh, even the mere thought of the girl made me cringe.

On my first date with her, I took her to this really fancy restaurant (well, as fancy as Forks can get, anyway) and she managed to talk loudly and obnoxiously about this weird bump on the side of her stomach for about 20 minutes so that I wasn't able to eat anything and all I wanted was for her to shut up. By the time she had finished eating her side-salad entre, I wasn't the only one who had lost their appetite, if the sneers from the other customers had told me anything as we walked out of the restaurant.

Then, as I drove her home, she decided that it would be a great idea to stick her hand down my pants while I was driving. What she neglected to remember was that she had been wearing these 2 inch long fake nails. More like talons, call them what you wish. But an accidental…. Scratch while I was driving led to us almost crashing into a stop sign and me screaming at her to get her skank-ass out of my fucking car. I made her fucking walk home. It was legitimately the worst date I had ever been on.

I knew that Bella was different than anyone I had ever dated. She was sweet and beautiful, smart and completely adorable. Her slender curves and cute, pouty lips made her utterly desirable to any male, and I had been lucky enough to be that male who got her.

Or at least, thought I had gotten her.

I lingered on her front porch for three minutes after she slammed the door, hoping she would re-open it and throw herself at me, but when I realized that she wasn't coming back, I slowly walked to me car and got in the driver's seat. I pounded my head on the steering wheel a couple times and then drove back home as the first, early morning rays of sunshine peeked up over the horizon.

It had been one hell of a night.

**A/N: So where do you think this fanfiction is going? BECAUSE I FIGURED OUT THE PLOT AND STORYLINE FINALLY! :D My beta Steph, is also the best person in the entire world.**

**PLEASE REVIEW! I SAVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM IN A SPECIAL EMAIL FOLDER DEDICATED JUST TO YOU GUYS!**


	5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Part 1

**Author's Note: Well, guys, I ACTUALLY GOT 3 CHAPTERS OUT IN LESS THAN A WEEK! Now let's just get the REVIEWS! I know there are people reading this, now just review. It takes like, 30 seconds, and I super-duper appreciate it! I wrote this in hopes that if I wrote more, I would get more feedback. So, please, GIVE ME FEED BACK!**

**I also hope ya'll are enjoying the story. This chapter is pretty much broken into two parts. This is part 1, which is in Mike's PoV. The next is in Bella's PoV.**

**(Mike's PoV)**

The day after the whole hospital fiasco, I woke up at about 11:30. That was pretty late for me considering I usually automatically woke up at 9. But even though I got in a few extra hours, I was still dead tired.

The first thought in my head that day was about Bella. My second thought was wondering about the crack in the plaster on my ceiling, but that's beside the point.

How was she going to complete the homework oh so greatly bestowed upon us? I smirked. I may as well bring her truck back, considering it was technically my fault she had to go to the hospital and leave her truck at the school anyways.

I groaned and got out of bed. I threw on some grey sports sweatpants and a white wife beater. Not the most attractive thing, but whatever. I ran a few fingers through my bed-head and retrieved my phone from my jacket that had been thrown over a chair in my room.

I sent a text to Tyler asking him to meet me outside during lunch block. I ran downstairs and popped my head in the food closet to my right. Looking over the well-stocked shelves, I grabbed a box of pop tarts and tucked it under my arm as I closed the door. I snatched my keys from a hook on the wall and walked out the front door into the damp, Fork's original rain-weather.

I drove to the high school while cramming pop tarts into my mouth whole. I felt like Bella while she ate that blueberry muffin. I could just picture her making NOM NOM NOM sounds right back at me for payback of my doing them before. I chuckled through my mouthful of pop tarts. Right as I pulled into the school, I managed to swallow all of it and throw the box on the floor in the back. I'd get it later.

I saw Crowley leaning against the entrance and drove right up to the front. I got out and, with a quick flick of my wrist, tossed him my keys.

Like a panther, Tyler caught them equally as fast. He gave me a questioning expression. "What's the game plan, Newton?"

"We're dropping off Swan's truck and then dropping you off back here. I'm skipping today. I had a long night." To further emphasize this fact, I yawned.

Crowley wiggled his eyebrow suggestively, and to mess with him, I smirked and winked. He looked rather taken aback. I knew I would get flack for this later, but right now, it was pretty much worth it.

"Did you get lucky?" Tyler asked, looking fairly amused.

"It depends on your definition of lucky." I wiggled my eyebrows back at him and turned. I walked towards Bella's truck and I took a quick glance back about halfway there. Crowley had dropped his jaw and was staring at me in mock amazement.

I smirked to myself and got inside Bella's truck.

When I turned the key, which was thankfully still in the ignition, the old red piece of crap roared to life so loudly that I jumped about 2 feet. No safe-running vehicle sounded like a constipated abominable snowman. I pondered crashing and totaling the damn thing so that Bella would actually have to get a safe car. I would even pay for it myself, as long as she was safe…

Wait, what the hell was I thinking? I met the girl yesterday, and I am already thinking of providing for her? I think I have problems….

I hit myself in the face with the heel of my palm as I pulled out of the school's parking lot, Crowley in my car right behind me. I turned onto the highway and had to coax the car with soothing words to push it to the minimum speed limit. I swear, this thing is a frigging rust bucket. I hoped that I would be able to even get the damn truck to her house!

Lucky for me, and probably unfortunately for Bella, the truck made it there in one or less pieces. I parked it in her driveway and Tyler pulled up to the curb behind me. I grabbed her keys and her bag and walked right up to the front door, wondering whether or not Bella would make an appearance. She was probably still sleeping, so I hoped that I wouldn't wake her up. I knocked as lightly as I could.

I wasn't necessarily surprised when Chief Swan opened the door. He looked surprised to see me, but not displeased, which was a good thing. We hadn't seen each other in a while. We had some… History, if you could even call it that.

"Hi Mike. I see you dropped off Bella's truck. Thank you for doing that." He then shifted his weight and looked slightly uncomfortable when he said, "I'm very sure that she'll certainly appreciate it."

Well, that's a bit awkward….

"Uhh, here's her backpack and her keys, Chief Swan." I handed the items over to him. "I didn't want Bella to miss out on any of that good ole' fashion homework that's due Monday."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Okay, punk. Also, Thanks for bringing her home last night. I was on a shift, so I obviously couldn't."

"You're going to work yourself to death Chief Swan." I said.

He shrugged slightly and nodded in compliance. "It's certainly starting to look that way, kid."

There were a couple seconds of silence before I decided to change the subject. "Um, Chief Swan, because I know that Bella can't drive due to her concussion, and I was wondering if you would like me to drive her to and from school. If that's okay with you, of course. Sir." I threw that 'Sir' in there just for good measure.

"Uh, that will be fine Mike. Just make sure that you," Charlie cleared his throat. Oh, here came the 'treat my daughter with the upmost respect speech'. "Treat my daughter with respect and," Charlie narrowed his eyes at me, "absolutely no funny business." He had made certain to punctuate those last four words as clearly and as apparent as possible.

I stiffened and replied, "Of course, Sir. I would never intentionally impose any kind of harm upon your daughter."

Charlie, sensing my tension, straightened himself up to his full potential height and said, "Good. Let's keep it that way."

Well played, Charlie, well played.

"I need to go drop Tyler Crowley off back at the school. I'll see you around, Chief Swan."

"Okay, see you around, kiddo."

I turned around and started walking back towards my car. I heard Charlie holler behind me right before he closed the door.

"Stay out of trouble!"

I smiled and got into the passenger-side seat of my car. I turned to Crowley and said, "Kick it."

The tires squealed on the pavement and I laughed, just picturing Charlie's expression as we sped away from the house.

Once I had dropped of Crowley and had asked him to bring me the homework at one point before Monday, I sped home listening to Weird Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy."

Once I got back, I was the only one home considering both of my parents were working at the sports-equipment store. So I tossed my keys on the kitchen table and made myself a bowl of popcorn. While the brown bag of crunchy, buttery-goodness rotated in the microwave for three minutes, I looked through my DVD's and found the best one with the most perfect theme of today. I grabbed the disc, walked in the kitchen and retrieved my bag of popcorn, and went into the living room. I stuck the disc into my DVD player and plopped down on the couch, turned on the TV, opened my bag of popcorn and jammed a fist-full of it into my mouth, and thus began to watch _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_.

Bom-bom, Chika-Chikaaaah…

**A/N: REVIEW! I love hearing/reading your feedback! It helps me improve my writing style and gives my motivation to type faster :)**

**So guys, what is your favorite movie to veg out to when you're home sick/home alone/bored to death?**

**(I bet that at least one of you is going to say _Twilight, New Moon, _or_ Eclipse.)_**


	6. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Part 2

**Author's Note: Special shout out to _Jaspersnumber1. _Thank you for your review! It definitely helped me write faster. ^_^**

**As always, a thank you to my dear friend Steph, for helping me through my writer's block, the eventual editing, and her comical epic awesomeness.**

**(Bella's PoV)**

I woke up with my eyes red and puffy at about 3 o'clock the next day. It was a good thing that I wasn't planning on going to school today. Not to mention, my head was pounding like a bitch and it had gained its own pulse. I groaned and slowly got to my feet, then rolled out of bed with about as much grace as an 80-year old fat man. I slowly walked out of my room, down the stairs, and collapsed at the kitchen table where Charlie was reading the news paper. I let my head plop don't on the white marble with a bounce. It kinda hurt more than I had meant it to. I let out a long groan.

Charlie just looked up from his paper and said, "You look like hell, Bells."

"Gee, thanks, Char-Dad." I muttered into the table. I groaned again. "My head hurts so much. Did I get hit by a bus yesterday?"

"Well, do you remember a circle of people surrounding you on the pavement looking concerned after you got hit?"

"No."

Charlie looked back down at his paper, "Then you didn't get hit by a bus."

I looked up and gave him a blank stare, then answered sarcastically. "Well, have you gotten hit by a bus before? How would you know?"

Charlie gave me a 'don't ask' look and quickly jumped subjects, "Have you taken any pain killers yet?"

I gave him a questioning glance, but I decided to drop it. There were just some things from my father's college days that I just didn't need to know. That's how he met my mom, Renè. When I asked her how they met, she said it happened during a wild party in college, and I vaguely remember her mentioning some tequila, a lime, and a sea-horse pool-floaty. I am pretty sure I mentally blocked the rest of it, which is a good thing. They had some pretty wild times, most of them I didn't need to know about, which conclusively led to the divorce of their extremely brief marriage.

"No, I haven't taken any aspirin yet, Dad."

"Well, don't you think it would help?" he replied.

I gave him a mock glare and stood up pretty abruptly. The chair I was sitting on tipped over backwards and hit the floor with a deafening bang. I gave a noticeable wince and Charlie chuckled from behind his _Fork's Daily News_.

"Butthead…" I muttered as I picked up my chair and placed back in it original position.

"What was that, Bella?"

Oopsies. I really needed to learn how to control my mind-to-mouth connection. "Uhhhh…. I asked 'Where's the aspirin, Dad?'."

"Oh. Check the top-shelf in the upstairs' bathroom cabinet."

"Thanks." I replied, and then left the kitchen wondering whether or not coming downstairs had really been a wise choice on my part.

Climbing back up the stairs was really more of a hassle than I expected and I had to stop one time to put my head on the railing. This concussion crap was really kicking my ass. By the time I had gotten into the bathroom, I was pretty much ready to just keel over and die a horrific and silent death. I felt like a zombie, and one quick, regretful glance in the bathroom mirror confirmed that I looked like one, too. I promptly found the aspirin and had that two-second internal debate on whether or not over-dosing would really make me feel better in the long run. I decided that it really wouldn't and jammed two tiny white capsules in my mouth, turned on the faucet, and ungracefully drank out of the sink like a dog. I was pretty sure that if Mike had seen me now, he would have grimaced and looked away in disgust.

Oh, yeah… Mike.

That reminded me of last night. Since I slammed the door oh-so-rudely in his face, he probably wanted absolutely nothing to do with me now. In fact, I would probably be going back to school to face a mockery of myself by the entire Fork's High student body. It had been only one fucking day and I had already screwed myself over here. I would be back to square one, with absolutely no friends, and no acquaintances since I lost Mike.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I said to myself as I put away the bottle of pills and closed the cabinet door.

I headed back to my room, hoping that I have my backpack so I could begin this one, huge, bitch of an essay that my English teacher, Mrs. Jones, had decided to assign to her advanced junior's class on my first day. Then I remember that my bag was in the cab of my truck, still parked in the parking lot of the high school, keys still in the ignition, right where I had left it after I passed out and had been taken to the hospital.

"FUCK MY LIFE!" I yelled pretty loudly.

That must have been what prompted Charlie to run to the bottom of the stairs and ask, "Is everything okay, Bells?"

"Dad, my truck with all my homework in it is still at the school! How am I supposed to do my schoolwork if I don't have it!" By now, I was freaking out. I really didn't want to be labeled as the slacker kid who doesn't do any of their work on the second day of school.

"Bella, you are perfectly all set. Your truck is parked right outside in the driveway." Charlie told me, trying to get me to stop being so hysterical as best as he could from the bottom of the stairs.

"What?" I asked, quite bewildered. How the hell did my truck get here? Did it drink a Red Bull to grow wings and fly back to our driveway? Better yet, why the hell would it come back here anyways?

"Oh, that nice kid, Mike Newton, and a few of his buddies brought it back a couple hours ago. They must have been on lunch break or something. It was pretty nice of them to do that, so you should thank them once you get back to school on Monday."

Wow, that concussion must have really fucked me up. Since when did I study the flight patterns caused by nasty energy drinks? I switched off that mind tangent and focused on the larger, more centralized idea. That was really sweet of Mike to do that… Why would he do that anyways? Wait, shouldn't he be totally pissed at me for being such a bitch last night?

"Oh, and by the way, Bells," Charlie continued, "You aren't allowed to drive for at least two weeks, according to Dr. Cullen, because of your concussion."

I frowned. "Then how the heck am I supposed to get to school?" There was absolutely no way in hell I was riding the bus. From where we lived, I would have to walk two miles to get to the nearest bus stop, and due to Fork's daily weather forecast of constant rain, it wouldn't take long before my hair turned to total frizz and I became completely drenched by the unending downpour.

"That Mike kid offered to give you a ride to and from school when he dropped off your truck. I told him specifically 'No funny business' and he nodded and said 'Of course not, Sir.' He seems like a pretty stable kid, so I'll allow him to drive you for a while. But if he screws up, consider yourself being dropped off at school in the police cruiser."

Okay, Charlie. That was enough to terrify me for a while. Taking the bus was one thing, being dropped off by your father in a police cruiser every morning was another. I was definitely not up to that kind of humiliation. I gave him a dissatisfied look.

"Hey, I didn't say that you had to ride in it now."

I just shook my head a little and replied, "Okay, thanks for letting me know, Dad. I suppose I'm gonna go get my backpack now." I started picking my way carefully back down the stairs.

"Hold on right there." Charlie said, then walked a few paces down the hallway and then disappeared. Seconds later, he re-emerged with my back pack. I looked at him a bit stunned and we met each other halfway on the stairs so he could give it to me. "Mike brought it in when he dropped off your keys."

" Uh… Thanks." Well, Mike had certainly gone far and beyond what I had expected. Maybe he wasn't even mad at me?

Charlie chuckled and then said, "By the way, Bells, I'll be working tonight from 4:30 to 2 AM. It's gonna be another long shift." I noticed then that Charlie looked extremely tired. I couldn't remember the last time he had had a full night's sleep. It wasn't like Forks was a complete hotspot for criminal activity.

"Dad, maybe you should take some time off. Sleep a little bit more. You look really tired."

"Yeah, I know, I'm feeling it."Charlie gave me a half smile and then brightened a little. "You know what, Bells, that's not a bad idea. We could even watch the basketball game tonight."

I grimaced. Blah, televised sporting events just weren't my thing. However, just to humor my dad, I smiled as big as I could and said, "Sure, that sounds good!"

He returned my smile and said, "Okay, Bells. I'm going to go make a few phone calls, and see if someone can take my shift, and I'll set my alarm clock for 7 so that we can nap up until the game."

I packed about as much enthusiasm as I could muster and said, "Sounds like a plan!"

Charlie gave me an odd look. Oops, too much enthusiasm. "Since when did you start liking sports, Bella?"

Oh, I wasn't expecting that one. Sports and I had always had a strong agreement to disagree. I wasn't coordinated enough to do even the most menial tasks, let alone attempting to stay standing as I kicked a ball around a field. Most often I tripped over that ball, anyways. "Uh, as long as I'm not playing them, Dad."

This seemed like an acceptable enough answer for the both of us so Charlie just nodded and said, "Okay Bells, I'll see you in a couple hours." He turned and walked back downstairs in the kitchen to make a few phone calls.

I walked back to my room and placed my back pack on my bed. I opened it up and glared at its contents with utter disgust.

"Nobody gives a fuck about Lord of the Flies, Mrs. Jones."

**A/N: Please REVIEW guys! If I get enough of them, I'll definitely try my hardest to get another chapter or even two out by the end of my vacation. But I crave feedback and it's up to you guys to give it to me. It takes like, 30 seconds! Please! Please with a chocolate-covered Mike Newton on top? (Oooh... On top ;).)**

**What is the worst essay assignment that you have ever had? That annual research that we are required to do is pretty darn aweful...**


	7. Clumsy and Concussed

**Author's Note: It's a New Year's freaking miracle. Considering I am a huge slacker and haven't updated for many months, I fully understand and deserve your rage. I am very sorry. I'll do better next time. Thank you to all who have reviewed, I love you very much. Please review again. (AKA: BABY COME BACK! YOU CAN BLAME IT ALL ON ME!) **

**I don't own any of Stephenie Meyer's characters, though I much enjoy abusing them. And forcing them to do my bidding. 3;)  
Now on with the show.**

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**(Bella's POV)**

That assignment sucked monkey ass. Discussing the symbolism represented in Lord of the Flies by the breaking of Piggy's glasses was just overkill. I seriously considered just typing the words 'They broke his glasses to piss him off and make a statement' and being done with the essay. Unfortunately, that wouldn't fill the 5 paragraph requirement.

I wish I didn't have to do this. I sighed in relief as it printed from my printer. Pristine, white paged assignment… It was perfect. I coveted the 5 pages as if it were a precious child, and stuck them in a protective folder that immediately went into my backpack. Finally, all of my dreaded homework was complete, and now all I had to look forward to was a welcoming sense of depression. I slowly made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen to search the freezer for some chocolate ice-cream. At least today is a Wednesday…

Crap, that meant I still had school tomorrow. See, I was hoping to avoid that awkward reunion with Mike Newton for as long as I possibly could. Unfortunately, the longest I could avoid looked like another 15 hours. Maybe a bit less.

I sat down on the couch next to Charlie while juggling some more painkillers, a glass of water, the carton of ice-cream, and a spoon. At least I was going to try to enjoy these last few hours of peace and lack of embarrassing mortification.

Or with about as much peace I was going to get at this time. It's not very restful when you have a concussion and Charlie is screaming at the sports channel right next to you. As hard as I had tried to get out of watching the basketball game, I just couldn't face seeing the look of disappointment on Charlie's face if I had just gotten up and left. In relationships, you give a little to get a little. And all I was getting was a raging migraine.

I zoned out eating my entire carton of ice-cream by myself and by the time I was done, Charlie had already fallen asleep on the couch. There were at least 15 minutes left in the game on the TV, but I figured I would be able to sneak out of the room quietly so I could get a good night's rest.

Another fact about myself: Unless it comes to academic answers, I am always wrong.

Getting up from the couch slowly, I gathered up my glass of water, the empty ice-cream carton, and my spoon, I attempted to skirt around the coffee table. Of course, I kicked it loudly and almost fell on my face. I also dumped the remaining half-glass of water on the floor. Well, at least it was half-glass empty, not half-glass full. The rules of pessimism must be reversed if you are dumping the water out onto a surface that is not supposed to be touched by said water. At least, this time, I didn't drop the glass and break that, too

I scrambled to the kitchen to grab some paper towels and put my dishes in the sink. I wiped up the water pretty quickly and breathed a sigh of relief as I was finally able to seek some rest in my bedroom.

I climbed upstairs to my room and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. That night, I dreamed of Lord of the Flies characters eating chocolate ice-cream and playing basketball in the water. Maybe I wasn't dreaming, perhaps I was just on an acid trip instead. It was probably just that weird aspirin.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

"Son of a bitch." I rolled over and smacked the snooze button on the alarm clock. It was too damn early to get up for school. I gingerly rolled out of bed and got up slowly to make sure my head wasn't swimming too badly. I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a flattering pair of jeans and a purple tank, along with a bra and a pair of underwear. I grabbed a pair of ankle socks and my converse and headed to the bathroom.

After a long and hot shower, I made myself look semi-presentable, took some more trippy aspirin, and prepared myself for the day ahead. I grabbed my school bag from my room, made sure my essay was in there, and brought my stuff downstairs. After dumping my backpack in the entryway, I wandered into the kitchen and began scouring the bare cabinets for any sign of edible breakfast food. Unfortunately, the only thing I found was oatmeal. I shuddered and grumbled unhappily to myself as I boiled some water and got out a bowl. If there was anything I hated more than blood, I would have to say that cheap, instant oatmeal was pretty close. I emptied the packet into the bowl and examined the shriveled and crunchy substance.

"It had better not still be crunchy after I pour in the water." I mumbled to myself.

Once the water was boiling, I added it to my… Delectable treat and retrieved a spoon. I sat down, and took a spoonful. Promptly, I managed to burn my tongue and throat.

"Mother-fucking god-damn piece of-FUUUUUCK!" I roared at my oatmeal. I quickly got myself some water and downed the entire glass. I threw the rest of the gluey breakfast goo in the trash and grabbed myself a 100-calorie granola bar snack. A much safer option.

I heard a knock on the door and froze cold. "Shit."

I had completely forgotten that Mike had become my chauffeur. Well, considering our kiss from the other night, and how I ended it, this was going to be awkward.

I tripped while running to the door and my knee clipped a door frame, causing an extremely sharp pain to bolt through my entire right side. I opened the door while tears threatened to form in my eyes.

"Well, good morning sunshine!" Mike exclaimed, standing there in a polo shirt and some jeans with a bright smile on his face, looking a bit nervous. Quickly, the smile transformed to a look of concern once he noticed I was in a fair bit of pain. "Are you alright? What's wrong, Bella?" he asked.

I leaned against the doorway for some support. However, it wasn't necessarily because I hurt my leg. I was just thunderstruck. Mike looked like an Abercrombie model; I just couldn't help being blown away by his gorgeousness every time I saw him. Perhaps I would never get over this side-effect of Mike. Then again, perhaps I didn't want to.

He shifted his weight a little bit and I noticed he looked a bit uncomfortable. Then I realized that I had been silently staring at him for long time and the last time I had seen him, I had slammed a door in his face. Oops, my bad. My mind finally began processing again and I stood up, putting weight on my bad leg and falling forward.

And guess whose arms caught me as I fell? I suppose I was both cursed and blessed with this clumsiness. Mike and his strong, muscle-y arms set me back on balance and I profusely apologized many times for my failing at life. And then, at the end of my extended apologies, I also added, "And good morning to you, too."

Mike looked at me a bit concerned, shook his head as if to clear it, and looked at a watch he was wearing on his wrist. Hmm, I hadn't noticed that before. Pretty expensive-looking watch. Huh.

"Um, as much as I would like to stay and talk with you all day, Bella, we kind of have to leave for school now." Mike said, awkwardly shuffling from foot to foot.

I blushed and apologized again. I took a deep breath and quickly spouted off the real and necessary apology, just so I could get it out there. "And, Mike, I am really sorry for closing the door so abruptly the other night. I feel like a huge butt because of it and that kiss was really sweet and nice, and… And I just don't know what I was thinking." I anxiously waited for either a reply or utter rejection.

Mike nodded a few times and said, "Hey, it's no problem, I'm sorry if I pushed any boundaries." He shrugged his shoulders.

I sighed in relief as I thought about how, sometime, I would like to see him push said boundaries again. Harder.

He glanced at his watch again. "Or we could be a bit late for school." Then Mike smirked, "Or we could just skip..."

Oh, always the bad boy. Since the problem was averted and we were kind of back to normal, I rolled my eyes and got back into the routine of flirting with Mike.

"You wish, buddy," I replied with a wink.

I hobbled over to my backpack and slung it awkwardly over one shoulder. I walked back over to the front door and turned to close it. While doing so, Mike stole my backpack and slung it over his own shoulder. I narrowed my eyes and wondered what he was up to.

"Uh, Mike, I need that. You know, for school."

"Yeah?" he replied, "Well, concussed people should not carry heavy objects." I gave him a strange look as he bopped me on the tip of my nose with his forefinger. "And especially clumsy, concussed people should not carry heavy objects either. So that means that I am carrying this around, along with any of your stuff, to and from classes today."

I cocked my head. "Oh, well then, thank you." I genuinely replied, and we began to walk towards his car.

"No problem, I try to help out when I can, be a good guy, all macho, yah know?"

"Mhm, a perfect gentleman." I sighed to myself.

"I'm sorry? What did you just say?" Mike asked.

I mentally face-palmed at myself for not controlling my mind-to-mouth connection again. "I said 'totally macho, Mike.' Totally macho." I lied smoothly.

He opened the car door for me and I got in. He got into the driver's seat, flung my backpack into the back seat, and I prepared myself for another scary car-ride from hell.

Luckily, we arrived there safely, and on time (on account of Mike's 80 miles per hour navigating through any straight stretches of roadway). I sighed as we pulled into the parking lot, not particularly excited for another long and torturous day of school.

At least I had something to look forward to after such a long and boring day. After all, Mike was giving me a ride home, too.

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	8. Pink Thongs & Their Effects on Buttheads

**Chapter 8**

Bella's PoV

Dutifully, Mike carried my books and backpack to each of my classes over the course of the school day, and surprisingly, our small-talk conversations between classes were light-hearted and easy, almost like breathing. Neither of us mentioned the awkward air between us, nor recognized that we actually had a "thing" together… Or was it just my imagination? And yes, I was now calling it a "thing".

I was just supposing that I was one of the many Newton-kissed girls that Mike dealt with, and I had resigned myself to believing he was just trying to let me down easy. Like, distance himself away from the clumsy, incoherent, idiot girl he had gotten stuck with.

But there was only one question this theory left me with. If he wanted to distance himself away from me, then why was he being so nice? And why hadn't he revoked the free school rides yet? I supposed he was just being nice…

Mike's PoV

It was a pretty busy day. After getting to school and walking Bella and her stuff to her first class, I ran through the drizzly Fork's weather to the high school's gymnasium. I had a study hall to burn through, and I normally wouldn't have even showed up to school this early if I hadn't had to pick up Bella. Not that I was complaining in the least bit. But I got a basket ball out of the supply closet and began shooting some hoops and listening to the pound of the ball on the hardwood floor. A soothing sound helping my concentrate and really get into the groove.

I had just begun to work up a sweat when Crowley slipped in and joined me.

"I'll verse you. First to twenty points wins!" he asked me.

"Sure, man. five bucks if I win?" I smirked

"Fine, five buck? You're on bitch!" Tyler jeered. He then swiped the ball from me and shot for the hoop. Fortunately for me, he missed and I got the ball, traveling around and tricking him, slyly sneaking by him to shoot a basket by the three-point line. I swiftly and lithely spun around his every lunge, scoring point after point. Soon, it was extremely apparent that I had won by a landslide. We both flopped down on the first row of plastic bleachers, gasping for breath.

"You fucking asshole." Tyler gasped.

"You owe me five bucks, bitch." I laughed.

We relaxed for a minute or two to catch our breath and Tyler chose then to turn to me and say, "So…. Wow, you really like this Bella girl, huh?"

Startled by Tyler's sudden insight into my budding attraction to this girl, I blushed and absent-mindedly bit my lip. Biting my lip had always been a nervous habit of mine, and it immediately gave me away to my best friend, who nodded and motioned for me to speak.

I scratched the back of my head and figured it was no use denying it. "Yeah, man," I said. "She's funny and pretty cool… And kinda beautiful, yah know? Yeah, I suppose I like her. " I admitted, trying not to sound like a tool-bag.

Tyler accepted this information as if he had already known anyways and asked, "When you gonna ask her out on a real date?"

"I really don't know, man." I replied. Since Bella had kissed and ditched the other night, and although she sweetly apologized for it this morning, I still wasn't certain how our relationship was standing right now. I was stuck between 'friend zone', 'potential fuck buddy', and 'trophy girlfriend'. I hoped it was the last of the three. If I actually had a chance with Bella, I wanted to do it right this time. I wanted a real… relationship with someone with real feelings. No long-nailed Jessica-whore relationship bullshit.

"Well, bro, you betta' ask her soon, or she'll be taken by a different dickwad, and you know it." Crowley said.

I nodded. I guess I wouldn't be able to take as much time trying to woo her like I originally wanted to. It was a bit disappointing, because I really had just wanted to prove to her that I was worthy of her affection. Damn, I really liked this chick. I was thinking long-term, and I really was holding a torch for her. I just wanted to get everything right with Bella, to prove to her, despite my past, that I was a decent guy.

"Ty, what do you suggest I do?" I put my head in my hands , unsure of how I would even get Bella and I back to the stage we were at the other day. It was really one step forward, two step back.

Tyler gave me a sympathetic look and shrugged. " Just do what you do best." He got up and glanced at the clock. "Okay, I gotta go to Trig. See yah later.?" He started walking out. When he got to the door, he turned to me and winked, "Don't fuck this up." Tyler chuckled and went through the door, leaving me alone in the gym, indecisive as usual.

I gathered up my shit and went to pick up my Bella and drop her off at her next class.

Bella's PoV

I spent all of my classes just waiting for the bell. Yes, it was so that I could see Mike. Which was rather pathetic because I'm certain he doesn't like me anyways. Whatever, I figured that I would just enjoy the ride while I still can.

Mike was so sweet to me while bringing my stuff to each class. Once, when I complained about my throbbing headache, he offered to carry both myself and my backpack to chemistry, which was on the complete opposite side of the school. I blushed and politely declined.

Now, it was the last block of the day; 2:58 PM. Two minutes to go. These minutes were undoubtedly going to be some of the longest minutes of my life. I turned back to the front of the classroom, where Mrs. Regal continued to drone on and on about the 'scandalous' 1920's. And from the way she was describing the speakeasies so vividly, I would have been surprised if she had lived through the era herself…

2:59 PM; Only one more minute to go. I was bouncing my legs so violently that the entire desk was shaking. Every second seemed like an eternity. I started trying to silently pack up so that I would be one of the first out of the room.

So, naturally, I dumped all of my books and pencil case onto the floor. At least the gigantic crash woke up the other sleeping students in the room just in time for the bell. I was receiving a multitude of glares from all sides as my pencils rolled under their feet and my face felt as hot as the sun. I muttered a quick 'sorry' and hurriedly gathered up my books as the teacher rolled her eyes and muttered something about interruptions under her breath.

The bell rang and I was still picking my pencils up as my classmates and Mrs. Regal practically ran out of the room as if the sun-blinds were on fire. I was the only one left for a few seconds and then Mike walked in and crouched down next to me as I scrambled on my knees to get to the last two pencils that had rolled under a stupid filing cabinet. Just as I grabbed them, Mike said, "Pink thong, today, Bella?"

I stood up so fast that I clipped my shoulder on the edge of the filing cabinet handle and yelled 'fuck' and jumped up and down as if it would actually ease the pain. Goddamn it. Mike just looked at me with an amused grin on his face.

flustered, I yelled, "Yeah! So what's it matter to you, buck-o?" I was so frustrated with myself that I stomped me foot. I knew I was acting foolish, but, by now, Mike was full-out laughing at me, making me feel even more angry. I crossed my arms and turned away from him, after giving him a cold glare. I was not a happy camper.

I glared out the window for a few seconds, then I heard him rise and stand behind me. Ever so gently, he laid a warm hand on my shoulder and asked, "Is your shoulder alright?"

Oh, so he was gonna be all sweet now. I murmured "It's fine, you butthead," and shrunk away from his touch. Then, surprisingly, he used the hand on my shoulder to turn me around and embrace me in an unexpected hug. At first, my arms were frozen at my side in shock, but then I started to respond. My arms wrapped around him and slid up his back. I enjoyed the delicious feel of all of his rippling back muscles that I didn't even know existed on a man.

They stopped moving about midway up his back and I laid my head on his chest. It was so sweet! Any kind of feelings of resentment grew wings and just flew out the window. It was like paradise in his arms; there was no other place that I would ever rather be. (Except a bedroom with Mike… Hehe.) But all too soon he pulled away and swiftly slung my backpack over his left shoulder. He took out his keys and asked, "Ready to roll, Babe?"

I nodded and we both navigated our way out of the school and into the parking lot where he opened the car door for me, got in himself, and stuck the keys in the ignition. He turned, winked at me, and then floored it out of the parking lot.

After a five minutes trip that really should have taken twenty minutes, we were pulling up to the curb in front of my house. Awkwardly, it kinda felt like he was dropping me off after a date; It felt as if I should kiss him, say a seductive 'have good night', and then get out of his car and skip gleefully all of the way into my house. However, that wasn't even close to the current situation.

I unclasped my seatbelt and turned to look into his beautiful, sky-blue eyes. As genuinely as I could, with the biggest smile I could muster, I said, "Thank you, Mike." He returned my smile and his eyes sparkled.

"Anytime, Babe," he said with a wink, "I'll be seeing you tomorrow, bright and early."Do you want me to bring your backpack into the house for you?"

Not wanting to be a burden, I declined. He looked a bit disappointed… Perhaps I should have invited him in… Made him a snack, watched a movie and cuddled, waited anxiously for his arm to slither over my shoulders, just in time for me to lean over and place my lips on… Woah! Way too ahead of myself here!

I grabbed my backpack out of the backseat and swung myself out of the car as I said, "Nah, I can totally handle it." And I fell flat on my ass onto my front lawn. Luckily, we had been parked close enough to the curb so I narrowly could miss hitting the pavement. Unfortunately, it still knocked the wind out of me and I fell onto my back.

Mike, very alarmed by my suave, little show, jumped out of the car as soon as he saw me begin to lose my balance and topple over and got over to me at record time after dodge rolling over the hood of his car.

"Bells? Bella! Are you alright? Is your head okay?" he asked frantically. As I sat there, very stunned, he tried to help me up, but my body did not seem to want to move.

"Oh, God, please don't be a vegetable." Mike begged as he tried to get me to move.

I sucked in a glorious deep breath of fresh air. Mike sighed in relief and gathered me up into his strong arms. He carried me right into the house (we never lock the doors… not like there wouldn't be a policeman immediately on scene) and set me down on the living-room couch. He whispered, "I'll be right back, baby." and walked back outside for a minute. Mike returned with my backpack in one hand and his keys in the other.

"When is your dad coming home?" he asked me.

Still a bit stunned, I forced out the word, "Late."

"Well, then it looks like I'm staying for a while. I need to make sure you don't' do anything else that may result in you getting a worse concussion or bleeding out on the floor. Besides, I've been told that I can make a pretty boss dinner of spaghetti and sauce from a jar."

He gave me another one of his famous winks and headed into the kitchen.

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